Integral twist top for mechanically actuated munition containers

ABSTRACT

A CONTAINER, ITEM TO BE CONTAINED, AND METHOD OF PACKAGING WHICH ENABLES THE PACKAGING OF SPECIALLY ITEMS IN A SINGLE CONTAINER TO PACKAGE AND PROTECT BY CONVENTIONAL AND AVAILABLE CONTAINER MANUFACTURING EQUIPMENT AND TECHNIQUE TO REDUCE THE CAPITAL EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS AND MANUFACTURING AND PACKAGING COSTS. THE INVENTIVE IMPROVEMENT BEING THE MATING OF A SET OF THREADS FORMED IN THE CONTAINER WALL WITH A SET OF THREADS INTEGRAL WITH THE CAP MEANS AND A SCORED STRUCTURE LOCATED IN JUXTAPOSITION TO THE THREADS FORMED IN THE CONTAINER WALL. THE SCORED STRUCTURE BEING ADAPTED TO SEPARATE THE CONTAINER INTO TWO SECTIONS WHEN THE CONTAINER IS HELD AT OPPOSITE ENDS IN EACH HAND AND EACH END TWISTED IN OPPOSING DIRECTIONS.

Feb. 1973 D. w. GREGORY 3,718,

INTEGRAL TWIST TOP FOR MECHANICALLY ACTUATE MUNITION CONTAINERS Filed Aug. 4, 1970 INVENT OR Douglas W. Gregory /4 ,4 W/ ATTORNJ United States Patent 3,718,090 INTEGRAL TWIST TOP FOR MECHANICALLY ACTUATED MUNITION CONTAINERS Douglas W. Gregory, Forest Hill, Md., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed Aug. 4, 1970, Ser. No. 60,879 Int. Cl. F42b 27/02, 27/04 US. Cl. 10264 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A container, item to be contained, and method of packaging which enables the packaging of specialty items in a single container to package and protect by conventional and available container manufacturing equipment and technique to reduce the capital equipment requirements and manufacturing and packaging costs. The inventive improvement being the mating of a set of threads formed in the container wall with a set of threads integral with the cap means and a scored structure located in juxtaposition to the threads formed in the container Wall. The scored structure being adapted to separate the container into two sections when the container is held at opposite ends in each hand and each end twisted in opposing directions.

DEDICATORY CLAUSE The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

My invention relates to an improved container means for packaging various materials, such as grenades or other munitions, which enables the simplified packaging of specialty items which ordinarily require a container for a material to be dispersed, a means for dispersal, such as a valve or, in the case of grenades, a fuze and an individual container or at least a separate protective cover to protect the dispersing mechanism against tampering, pilferage, atmospheric contamination or accidental actuation. My inventive improvement is the use in a single container of a substantially strong cylindrical member having coarse threads and positioned on a shoulder formed in the single container above the material to be dispersed and held fast in such position by rolling a bead in the container wall over a shoulder just above the seating position. The container wall is threaded above such seating position to mate with the internal cylindrical member which also serves to hold, support and position the mechanism for dispersal, such as a spray-head or a fuze. The single container can be closed against tampering, pilferage, atmospheric contamination or accidental actuation by means of an ordinary can top or cover, crimped or seamed in place by conventional means. My container is scored to a break-away depth at the periphery slightly above and toward the sealed end of the rolled bead at the shoulder; such scoring may be accomplished by undercutting the minor screw-thread diameter at the lower thread end for one full turn. All means of fabrication employed are capable of being performed by conventional and available container manufacturing equipment and techniques and will reduce the container complexities in manufacture and end-usage.

Prior art grenades, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,434,421, were packaged in containers which were not manufactured in the catalogue of standard containers by large commercial container manufacturers. One container was required to package the grenade components and a second container was utilized to protect the packaged grenade components; the second container being adapted to be opened by means of a tear strip and key, in the fashion of a sardine can. My invention was conceived and reduced to practice to satisfy the long felt need for a single container to package and protect items, such as grenades, which could be manufactured by a large container manufacturer without necessitating special tooling or manufacturing technique and to solve the problem of utilizing a single container which could be readily manufactured by existing tooling and manufacturing technique.

My invention has utility for all applications, such as the packaging of grenades, requiring a specialized container which can be manufactured by existing and universal container manufacturing equipment and technique.

A principal object of my invention is to provide a single container to package and protect which can be used for specialty items, such as grenades, which can be manufactured by conventional container manufacturing equipment and technique.

Another object of my invention is to provide a grenade having a container means which can be manufactured by reduced capital equipment requirements and manufacturing cost through the utilization of conventional container manufacturing equipment and technique.

Other objects of my invention will be obvious or will appear in the specification hereinafter set forth.

FIG. 1 is a view of my container after completion of packaging.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing the utility of my container with a grenade after the top has been twisted off of the package shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing the utility of the packaging of a grenade in my container means.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the utility of my container for the packaging of a grenade after complete packaging as shown in FIG. 1.

My invention as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 will now be described in detail as follows.

The container shown at 1 has a conventional bead shown at 2 formed at a predetermined height by conventional machine shop and container manufacturing technique, the location of the bead being determined by the material to be packaged within the container; a plurality of round thread members shown at 3 formed in the wall of container 1 and designed to mate with round thread members 4 formed in top 5, the thread members being formed in container 1 and top 5 by conventional machine shop and container manufacturing technique, thread members 3 can be formed in container 1 either before or after insertion of top 5 within section 10 by conventional cap ping machine operation within the skill of the art and as subsequently described; an annular scored structure shown at 6 located at and superimposed on the minor thread diameter located between the lowest thread 7 and the next higherthread 8, the scoring being such that it will permit section 9 to be removed from section 10 when section 9 is grasped in one hand and section 10 grasped in the other hand and sections 9 and 10 hand twisted in opposing directions, clockwise and counterclockwise; flange 18 adapted to secure cover means 19 to container 1; and dimples 11 are provided at any suitable location, within the skill of the art, on the outside surface of section 9 to serve as a gripping means to assist in the twisting to sep arate section 9 from section I10. Bead 2 is formed so that raised surface 12 is formed on the inside surface 13 of container I, raised surface 12 acting as a support memher for gasket means 14 for the grenade embodiment. Bead 2, of course, could be eliminated within the skill of the art for any application of my container which does not require a gasket means. Alternatively, top 5 could be held fixedly within container 1 by a bead means 25 to prevent turning of top and scored structure 6 formed slightly above bead means 25; the bead means 25 and thread means 3 coating to permit separation of section 9 from section 10 with less force expended. To further describe packaging with my container, I will describe it in terms of the exemplary embodiment of the grenade package. After container 1 is machine formed as above described, a conventional explosive, incendiary, smoke producing, or chemical payload is loaded within container 1, the loading being either under pressure or not to suit a given application, and a conventional starter mix 16 is superimposed on payload 15; the conventional loading technique, payload, and starting mix being such as described in U.S. Pats. No. Re. 18,938 and 3,434,421. Following the aforementioned loading, a conventional fuze, shown at 17, such as shown in FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,434,421, is screwed into bushing 20 by means of threaded fuze adaptor 21; bushing 20 being integral with top 5 and adaptor 21 being integral with fuze 17. Conventional safety lever 24, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,434,421, is made to a length to fit within container 1. Gasket '14 is then inserted within container 1 and rested on bead support 2 and top 5 with fuze 17 mounted therein is superimposed on gasket 14; top 5 being secured to container 1 either by screwing the top 5 within container 1 by means of round threads 3 and 4 having been formed in container 1 and top 5 respectively prior to the insertion of top 5 within container 1 or by merely placing top 5 on gasket 14 and sealing top 5 within container 1 by conventional capping machine operation, as aforementioned, by forming threads 4 in cover 5 prior to insertion of top 5 within container 1 but not forming threads 3 within container 1. To seal by the capping machine technique, a conventional sealing head is placed surrounding container 1 and merely exerts downward pressure to embed threads 4 in swage fashion within container :1, a soft material such as aluminum or tin plate, to form threads 3 and efiect a positive seal of top 5 within container 1. To finish the packaging operation, lip 22 of cover 19 is rolled over flange 18 of container 1 in the conventional manner by means of an edging machine; the closure shown at 23 can be hermetically sealed within the skill of the art for any particular application. For some applications, cover 19 may not be necessary. While I have shown cylindrical configurations in the drawing, the geometry of my container can be modified within the skill of the art to suit any application.

It is obvious that other modifications can be made of my invention, and I desire to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A munition having a plurality of components comprising a container means having a closed end and an end adapted to be closed; a payload within the container means of a material selected from the group consisting of explosive material, incendiary material, smoke producing material, and chemical material; a starter mix superimposed on the payload, said starter mix being adapted to activate the payload; and a fuze means integral with a top means and located within the container means above the starter mix, the fuze means being adapted to activate the starter mix; the improvement in combination with said 5 components comprising a first plurality of round thread means formed in the container means Wall, said first plurality of round thread means being adapted to mate with a second plurality of round thread means formed in a top means; a scored structure located in juxtaposition to 10 the first plurality of round thread means, said scoring structure being adapted to separate the container means into two sections; and a top means adapted to fit within the container means and close the container means, the top means having the second plurality of round thread 1 means integral with the periphery thereof, said second plurality of round thread means being adapted to engage the first plurality of round thread means in a sealing engagement.

2. The munition of claim 1 wherein a first bead struc- 20 ture is formed in the container means at a predetermined location below the first plurality of round thread means, said first bead structure being adapted to serve as a support means for a gasket structure and a gasket structure is superimposed on the bead structure.

3. The munition of claim 1 wherein a plurality of grip means are formed in the container means above the scored structure and adjacent to the top means, said grip means being adapted to aid in separating the container means into two sections along the scored structure.

4. The munition of claim 1 wherein a flange means is formed on the end adapted to be closed, said liange means being adapted to engage in sealing engagement a lip means integral with the periphery of a cover means, and a cover means adapted to close the container.

5. The munition of claim 1 wherein the scored structure is superimposed on the minor thread diameter located between the lowest thread member and the next higher thread member of the first plurality of round thread means.

6. The munition of claim 1 wherein a second bead structure fixedly locates the top means within the container means and prevents turning of the top means and the scored structure is located between the second bead structure and the first plurality of round thread means.

7. The munition of claim 1 being a grenade.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,887,468 11/1932 Scaglia 102-64 2,328,916 9/ 1943 Comte 102-65 3,149,567 9/1964 Buck 102-65 3,575,111 4/1971 Richardson 10 2-65 VERLIN R. PENDEGRASS, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 10265 

